


Caught

by Burgie



Series: Katja Joins Team Good AU [7]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/F, Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 01:56:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7598944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Katja gets caught by Dark Core and loses something very precious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Caught

Katja barely recognised where she was when she woke up. Then again, she didn’t usually come to the prison part of the Dark Core headquarters. She only recognised the place when she saw the logo on the wall.

“No,” she whispered, backing away to the far wall. She couldn’t take her eyes off the logo. She kept repeating that one word, even as the logo kept confirming that she was here. This shouldn’t have happened, the runes were supposed to keep her safe from the Generals. She looked down at her arms, running her fingers over the markings that had burned as they went on. Why hadn’t they worked? Had the witch betrayed her?

Footsteps approached her cell, and Katja looked out through the bars. The sight of them made her look back at the ground.

“Hello, dear sister,” said Jessica, stopping outside her cell. Katja didn’t want to look at her. “It’s nice to have you back with us.”

“How did you find me?” asked Katja. She hugged her legs so that it wouldn’t look like she was hugging her stomach. She couldn’t let them find out about her secret. Not again.

“Well, it wasn’t easy,” said Jess. “But it’s a little easier when you have someone who doesn’t care about what she wrecks to get what she wants.”

“So she finally got here,” said Katja.

“Yes,” said Jessica. “She tore apart half the countryside looking for you. She said that she wanted to meet her niece. Oh yeah, and-“

“No!” Katja screamed. How could she possibly know that when it was so new? Even Alex didn’t know yet. Katja’s hands turned into claws and she tore at the wall closest to the ocean but only succeeded in tearing gouges in the concrete. There was blood but not from her hands. And then there were cramps and so much blood and she was screaming and crying and losing it, losing everything.

She didn’t know whether to be grateful or not when they left her alone after that. Instead she just lay in her cell, crying and covered in blood. The whole place stank of blood.

Katja could see shoes approaching her cell. Boots, to be specific. Because nobody wore sneakers except for the Soul Riders. She didn’t want to look up to see who it was, though. Her eyes were still glued to her bloodied hands. She didn’t know why she’d raked through the mess of blood, she could barely even remember it.

“Well, don’t you look pathetic.” Her visitor crouched down in front of her. Now Katja recognised her visitor.

“Go away, Elise,” said Katja. “I don’t have the energy to deal with you right now.”

“Aww, and why not?” asked Elise. “Did you use up all your energy preventing us from creating another soldier?” Her eyes were golden at the moment, and they twinkled with mirth.

“I said go away,” said Katja. She narrowed her eyes at her. “I’ll hurt you.”

“From inside that cage?” asked Elise. “I don’t think so. You’re as helpless as you’ve ever been. Probably about as much as when you were in that cage watching Buck get turned into a soldier.”

“Stop it!” Katja’s hand lashed out and Elise caught it, chuckling. And then she bent her fingers back, causing Katja to first whimper and then scream.

“Pathetic,” said Nihili, dropping her hand and stepping away. “No wonder they let you go so easily. We don’t even have to break you to get you back.”

“Leave me alone,” said Katja, cradling her broken hand.

“You sound like a whiny child,” said Nihili. “You’re thousands of years old. Everyone knows that you’re not a child. So why act like one?”

“Because I’m the youngest,” said Katja. She got to her feet, and some of her hair ended up stuck to the floor. The rest was glued to her face with blood. “You’d be distraught too if you just lost a child. I guess.” She wrapped her hands around the bars, letting the pain of her broken fingers fuel her. Her middle still ached too.

“Not likely,” said Nihili. “Because I wouldn’t be stupid enough to get knocked up in the first place.”

“It was my decision, you know damn well how magic works!” Katja snapped at her.

“Still stupid,” said Nihili. “And sleeping with the enemy. You really are stupid.”

“No, I was stupid to side with Garnok in the first place!” said Katja. Nihili looked surprised. It wasn’t an expression that she usually wore, and it looked strange on her

And then the base rumbled. Nihili turned and ran back into the base, away from the prison cells, while alarms blared. Katja lost her footing and fell back down, crying out in agony as her mangled fingers hit the ground.

“Katja!” Alex was there suddenly, and then the bars were gone and Alex picked her up. Katja wrapped her arms around Alex, burying her face in her shoulder, and let the tears come again. But they were of relief this time.

“Oh, Alex,” Katja mumbled into her shoulder. “I’m so glad you saved me.”

Alex didn’t speak to her until they were safely back on land. And even then, only after Alex had found a runestone circle and used her rune wand to make the circle into a shield.

“What did they do to you?” asked Alex. “You’re bleeding and- your fingers.” She took Katja’s hand in her own, very gently, and Katja almost started crying again just from the tenderness.

“I’m not bleeding anymore,” said Katja. Now she was crying again, and Alex let her. Though she did brush her tears away with her thumb.

“Well, why were you bleeding?” asked Alex. “What did they do, Katja? They didn’t try to make another Buck did they?”

“No, they can’t!” Katja could feel the hysterics coming on. “They couldn’t even if they wanted to, b-because…” Her shoulders shook. All of her shook. “I lost it.” She waited for Alex to get it. ‘It’ could be anything. Her sanity. Her will to keep fighting.

“No,” said Alex, and her voice was icy. Katja looked up to see her girlfriend looking out over the land to where the oil rig was located. “They didn’t.”

“No, they didn’t cause it directly,” said Katja. “It just happened. Because of the stress.”

“But it was magical,” said Alex.

“The conception was magical,” said Katja. “Everything else was going to be normal. Well, except for when…” It was no use talking about it now. Thinking about what could have been hurt too much. But she couldn’t stop.

Katja let out a little keening noise and grabbed tight to Alex, her fingers throbbing. Alex held her as she cried, obviously not minding about the drying blood everywhere. When she finally looked up, Katja noticed that Alex was crying too. Silently, though. And she still looked so angry.

“Don’t go after them,” said Katja. “Please don’t.”

“Why not?” asked Alex. Her voice cracked, and she let go of Katja to rake her hands through her hair. “They kidnapped you, locked you in a cell, tortured you, and took- took our-“ She pressed her lips together and trembled.

“They didn’t torture me, that was just Nihili being a bitch,” said Katja. “And I already told you, I lost it because of the stress.”

“Stress brought on because they kidnapped you!” Katja couldn’t argue with that. And besides, Alex looked so frightening that she didn’t want to argue.

“So now what are we going to do?” asked Katja. “The bunker clearly isn’t safe.”

“It’s safe enough,” said Alex. “I’ll just put some wards up. We repaired the hole that they blew in it to break in.”

“They broke in?” asked Katja. “How didn’t I hear that?”

“You were sleeping pretty deeply,” said Alex. “I understand why now. I’m so sorry that I didn’t put it together, it seems so obvious now. All the signs were there- you sleeping a lot, you avoiding coffee, you suddenly developing a craving for tuna sandwiches.”

“Your tuna sandwiches are the best,” said Katja. “Please don’t talk about it. I can’t even think about it right now.”

“Okay,” said Alex. “Okay, that’s fine. I get it. Let’s just go home and I’ll get Lisa to heal your hand and you can have a shower. Sound good?”

“Yes, that sounds good,” said Katja. She let out a shaky breath and drew her hands away from Alex, wincing as her broken fingers sent throbs of pain through her hand. Her legs still felt weak, but Alex saw this and scooped her up into her arms.

Alex didn’t leave her side, which Katja was grateful for. She needed someone to hold her and cry with her as the blood washed down the drain. And then later, she stood beside Alex while the wards were applied to the base. They would strengthen the concrete and repel the Generals or anything that might wish them harm. The bedroom received three layers of warding. Just to be safe.


End file.
